International Steel Mills
June 22, 2021
HYBRIT Produces First Sponge Iron with Hydrogen Reduction
Written by Sandy Williams
SSAB and its green steel partners LKAB and Vattenfall claim to have made a major breakthrough in environmentally friendly steelmaking. The HYBRIT team said it has produced the world’s first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron, a major step toward fossil-free steel.
The HYBRIT pilot plant in Sweden – a joint project undertaken by steelmaker SSAB, iron ore miner and pellet producer LKAB, and power producer Vattenfall – has proven that it is possible to use fossil-free hydrogen gas to reduce iron ore instead of using coal and coke to remove the oxygen, the companies said. The process captures around 90% of the emissions from the steelmaking process. HYBRIT hopes to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by using only fossil-free feedstock and fossil-free energy. Instead of CO2, the emissions will be water.
